finally sitting down

When I got back here on Thursday, my mom was at a glass-fusing class, so my dad and I went to dinner at Matuba. We had a nice, atypical bonding conversation over dinner and the drive back. Friday we bought some goat curry and chicken stew from the local Caribbean place for lunch and I made an ancient Roman recipe, Parthian chicken for the parents for dinner. Saturday my mother and I went to the Armenian Festival in Old Town’s Market Square. We met up with one of her friends from work, who educated us on many things Armenian. Good times. After that I went to Ryanne’s new apartment in Silver Spring for her during-a-heat-wave house-warming party. So many old friends were there, and I was slightly relieved/appalled to hear that they’d all been reasonably out of touch too. (And I felt glad to have my excuse of being in Italy). Aaron, Chris, Claire, Eliza, Janet, Jeff, John, Lish, Max, Ona, Nate, and Susan. And some new people too. Good times. Lots of wine, lots of beer. No spilling on the new carpet. A few of us went to The Piratz Tavern for grog and other drinks. Yes, seriously. Great night.

Sunday my family, sans Adrian who’s not back from New Orleans yet, went to church and then had lunch at Bistro du Coin with one of my father’s old classmates who was in town for a conference. Then it was an unsuccessful quest for a Wii Fit for him to take back to the Philippines. Hungry again from all that driving(?) we grabbed dinner at The Fish Market in Old town.

Monday aka TODAY aka the day I finally updated my journal, I spent going to a dentist appointment, cleaning my room, unpacking FOR REAL, and updating this journal.

About a thousand pictures coming soon I promise!

I’m going to The Philippines, Vietnam, and Cambodia for a few weeks with my family. So after all these belated updates and the coming-soon photos, I’m going on indefinite hiatus again. An Asian update in a month or so is probable, but after that, it might be a wait again until my return to Florence. E-mails, IMs, facebook, phone calls, text messages… you know how to reach me.

rest of Chicago week

So our weekend in Chicago was over, and it was Monday and off to the airport. Lauren and Ryanne were getting on flights, David was driving back to Michigan, and I was taking the train to the city to Mikey’s place. We dropped Lauren off first, then Ryanne and I got out and wished David a safe drive, and – rather anticlimactically – Ryanne and I told each other “see you on Saturday!”

After settling into Mikey’s new apartment, I met up with Nicole and her friend – and now mine – Therese. We did happy hour at Harry Caray’s and then Murkel’s. Mikey met up with us for dinner and drinks at Wilde, named for the author and delicious. One of Oscar’s wonderful quotes was painted on a wall: “After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relatives.” True story. The night after that is a bit of a blur, a pub crawl involving Sidetrack, Minibar, Scarlet, Hydrate, Roscoe’s.

Tuesday, we were supposed to go to breakfast but we ended up just lounging around his apartment for hours before he treated me to lunch at The Zodiac Room above Neiman Marcus. So good. So good. We went to the Signature Lounge on top of the Hancock Building for cocktails, but it was so cloudy we couldn’t see anything. So we went to Duffy’s to split a bottle of wine and then went to get more drinks at a bar I can’t recall the name of with his friend Nikki, Nicole, Gisela, and Sarah (from Italy, aka Madonna-Original) and one of her friends. ‘Sela, Nicole, Mikey, and I grabbed dinner at his favorite Japanese restaurant. The ladies called it a night, and Mike and I spent the night drinking PITCHERS – courtesy of a generous friend of his – of vodka sodas at Cocktail, the bar across his apartment.

Wednesday, Mikey went to work and I met up with another Lauren (aka Rosie of PCBaywatch fame). She suggested Ada’s, a “great Jewish deli.” How very Tulane of us. It was awesome. We went to Argo to grab some tea, the mate latte made me think of Juan and Italy. She had to go back to suburbia after, but Nicole, Jack, and I went for some cocktails. Signature Room, redux. On a clear day, you can see FOUR STATES from the view. Amazing. We met up with Mike and ‘Sela for a diner dinner at Clark’s. Jack and I, in our quest for waffles, had been discussing a meal there for four months, so it was nice to finally fulfill that dream. We picked up a few bottles of DOCG Chianti and went to a hookah bar and smoked the rest of the night away. A perfect chill way to end a great, eventful visit.

long weekend!

So due to some unfortunate last-minute circumstances, Mikey was unable to come visit me. Nonetheless, I'd already assured all my friends I would spend my last "free" weekend in DC being fun. The show must go on.

So my parents and I tried to catch the tail end of DC Restaurant Week, but our reservation (made in the afternoon) yielded a 10PM table. So we went to Gallery Place to watch a movie to kill time and the only movie that fit into our schedule was Alvin and the Chipmunks. Yeah, it was funny. The re-recorded classic songs, namely "The Christmas Song" and "Witch Doctor," brought me back to childhood.

Dinner at Ten Penh was great.

Saturday we went to a memorial service for my great-uncle, Sedfrey Ordonez. Usually respect falls into three categories. First, there is the respect you have for your older, wiser family members. Second is the respect you have for good people. Third is the respect you have for people who have changed the world for the better. "Lolo Sed" fits all three categories. Not many people do. He will be very missed.

The reception, of course, had more than enough delicious food. Love of good food runs in our family. There was a sort of second, more intimate, reception at my aunt's house for everyone who stuck around long enough and wanted to catch up.

I eventually left to meet my friend Jewelyn for dinner. Again with restaurant week, we went to Harry's Tap Room, which was very tasty. She brought it to my attention that we haven't seen each other for almost two years, which is insane. Hopefully that won't happen again.

"don't stop believing"

After dinner, we ended up at Carpool, which she said was "the closest to a Tulane bar you'd find in the city," and she was probably right. Her friend Greg and my friend Patrick from grade/high school both met up with us for a few drinks and some catching up. Jewelyn and I kept watching the NCAA scores looking for Tulane amidst the ridiculous number of Louisiana colleges being displayed. Perhaps it wasn't wise, but we celebrated each Tulane appearance by finishing our drinks at the time.

The next day I met the same Patrick and my friend Tony, another recent Tulane alum, at Open City for a late lunch. Good conversation, good times. It was so cold that day that we didn't really feel inspired to do anything else, so we parted ways. I was on the metro about to call Janet and tell her I couldn't meet her and Mere in time for coffee in Bethesda. But sweet serendipity, I turn around and there is Mere, delayed at the same metro station I was. So we met up for Starbucks like good twentysomethings. I followed Janet's suggestion of a "cinnamon dolce latte," which was perfect for the weather and waking me up. We talked for a while, discussing plans, aging, marriage, babies, dreams, nightmares, free will, and serendipity.

Janet and I had previously set a lunch date for Monday, and on Sunday we decided it best to invite as many people as possible. And to our surprise, almost everyone said yes. When we got to Kramers and asked the hostess for a table for eight, she basically laughed at us. (I had left it to Janet and her delightful accent to make a reservation, but they didn't fall for her charms and told us to just walk in.) We thought we might have to go elsewhere, but they opened up the mezzanine level for us, so our little brunch party sat up there alone. Very VIP.

After lunch, the St. Mary's mini-clique (Ona, Kathleen, and myself) went to go walk around The Shops at Georgetown. There are two pieces of evidence that old habits die hard. Janet, Katie, and Susan all were yanked back to their real lives by, respectively, a return to New York, grading papers, and nursing school homework. Claire and Ryanne went off to delay reality with a viewing of 27 Dresses. The three of us, unsurprisingly uninterested, just caught up on our old friends and the little twists and turns of our own private lives. Always a pleasure.

I probably won't be doing much this week except packing. It is entirely possible my next post will be coming from Florence, Italy!!!

2008 already???

So I made it my new year’s resolution to resurrect my journal from abandonment hell. It seems a lot of you faithful readers that are now finished with college now need something to help you procrastinate from your actual lives. So be it.

It only seems right to pick up from the start of this new calendar year. I promise future entries won’t be this long in terms of words or time-span.

Since Suze4Booze’s annual new year’s parties ended their four-year run with 2007 (under the correct assumption the gang wouldn’t be as available or local this year), I rang in the new year with my family for a change. My parents, Adrian, his girlfriend Monica and I went to Jaleo for their Noche Vieja.

[I think this would be an appropriate point to note that I’ve begun a new food-oriented blog “where’d ya eat?” to spare you all hunger pangs while you read about my life and to further detail all the delicious aspects for you foodies. I usually hate links in blogs, but I will make an exception for any restaurants I happen along and end up writing about.]

After enjoying the unlimited tapas, sangria, cava (Spanish equivalent of champagne), desserts, New Year’s favors, and dancing, we came home to imbibe a little more and resurrect the Marin family karaoke machine. I mean, c’mon, we’re Asian. Good times.

I went to the Italian embassy to get my visa, and I was about five minutes late of when the visa office closed. Lucky for me, the nice consulate lady who I thought would take my info and tell me to come back took a look at my passport and noted I had the same birthday as her son, right down to the year.

My mom and I met Adrian and Monica for lunch at Zorba’s Café, which was nice because it’s usually packed but even had easy parking the day after New Year’s.

We spent the afternoon at the National Gallery of Art wandering around the Edward Hopper exhibit visiting from Chicago. I got to see my favorite painting ever Nighthawks, which I’m sure I’ve mentioned before. Unlike most famous paintings, it’s surprisingly larger in real life than one might expect. The lighting and the momentum are spectacular though. I bought a print that I have yet to frame and hang.

David came to visit me for a weekend, which was awesome. Also awesome was Ryanne’s birthday falling on the same weekend, so it was one less night I had to plan. His visit was not unlike my visit to Chicago last January: Relax, eat, drink, sleep, rinse, repeat.

so happy to see Ryanne on her birthday

He got here on Friday, and we went to lunch with Mon Mon and Jon Jon at Matuba, which is my favorite Japanese restaurant in this area. Low-key but delicious. We spent the afternoon playing sports... of the video game persuasion. Wii Tennis and the NES classic “Double Dribble.” Strangely, we can understand the physics of 256-bit tennis but 8-bit basketball is too much for our college graduate minds. We met up with Ryanne, the other Visi girls, et al for happy hour at Café Citron, where we had dinner before moving on to Porter's for the actual birthday-at-midnight countdown. Ryanne and I went upstairs to the DJ, so she could ask him to play The Cupid Shuffle at midnight. And he did! And it was awesome. Even though someone forgot the steps...

Visi '03: so purty

David and I slept away about half of Saturday before having lunch with my parents at Peking Gourmet Inn. (Adrian and Monica left for New Orleans in the morning.) He and I spent the afternoon walking around Old Town and watching the Redskins not-beat the Seahawks at Murphy’s with some brews. We grabbed dinner at Warehouse Bar & Grill and met up with my longtime friend Harry Potter Patrick to go to Clyde’s for more beers and watch the Colts/Steelers game.

He left the next morning, so I spent the next few days doing what he and Patrick recommended: Beating Super Mario Galaxy on Wii. (I almost suggested David bring his but didn’t fearing I would bore and/or offend him, but to my surprise, he would’ve considering he only has a few more stars left.) Anyway, I did beat the hell out of that game. (Beating Bowser is one thing, completist that I am, getting all 120 stars is another.) But I’m not hardcore enough to go after the 121st star. At least not yet.

I also spent a night at my even longer time friend Ludovic’s house guiding him through Resident Evil 4 (for the Wii also). We got through about two thirds of the game. But for the first time in maybe a decade, it was a sleepover that actually involved sleeping. Over.

Now I’m just resting up for a visit from my other favorite Chicago boy, Mike. Perhaps I can ask Ryanne to have another birthday since I think I’ve almost forgotten how to plan a night out.

a few more thousand words

the rest of 2007 in other people's pictures:

courtesy of Gisela Lopez

courtesy of Margaret Bolhous

courtesy of Jacque Peacock

courtesy of Emily Castro

courtesy of Fiorella Quiroz

courtesy of Ona Balkus

the rest of birthweek 2.0

Tuesday

Unless I’m forgetting something other than visiting Alison for strawberry birthday cake, Tuesday was pretty typical. Terrorism. Lunch with Tara. Screenwriting. Dinner with Ben. If I forgot something significant that you were a part of, please let me know!

Wednesday

Classes. As a belated birthday present, LauRu treated me to the gelateria, the name of which escapes me, on Oak. While staring at the paninis and talking about food, we realized we wanted non-dessert food. (Apparently we were both busy and had gelato as our breakfast.) So we went to Philip Chan’s Asian Cajun Bistro for dinner. We split a seafood tempura trio appetizer of shrimp, crawfish, and squid (family members: very much like the baked squid Dad likes) with a chili dipping sauce. Lauren ordered the pineapple prawns, and I got the soft shell crab, which like the other seafood was lightly beer-battered. It was quite the late lunch.

Back on campus, I went to a meeting for the terrorism debate we had Thursday. (More on this later, believe me.)

Then Tara treated Alison, Rachel, and I out for our birthdays to Côté Sud, a charming little French restaurant. That might have been the best birthday present ever. Thank you, darling.

We split escargots and garlic bread with mozzarella for appetizers. I had the saumon crème d’epinard (salmon with spinach cream over rice and vegetables) for my entrée. And we split a chocolate mousse layer cake and Poire Belle Hélène (poached pears, vanilla ice cream, melted chocolate, and Poire D’Anjou liquor) for dessert.

When I was returning home, I saw a bunch of familiar faces walking around in black. Lauren and I ended up back at our apartments at the same time, and while discussing our plans (or lack thereof) for the week, I realized what the somber occasion was: Fun Lauren’s funeral. I missed the service because I would have cried too much. She was buried next to the late Fun David, who passed away about a month ago, but whom I plan on resurrecting come May.

Thursday

Worst technological morning of my life. My computer malfunctioned, so I couldn’t even open my “domestic spying program” position paper for the terrorism debate. After two hours of messing with Getaway, I called my professor. He told me to just focus on the debate. So I went to the computer lab and started typing up notes and talking points, but when I went to the printer, the printer queue was about 23 names long. So I e-mailed my notes to (myself at) the other lab.

When I tried to print there, the computers told me no printer was installed. Great. I bypassed the busy library since I was already late to class and made a last attempt at Cudd Hall. Printers not available there either. Thank God the debate went well anyway because at that point I’d memorized almost everything from having to look at it so much.

Tara had a meeting so no lunch. David and I went to the grocery and Wendy’s. That night I missed Alifun’s (and slightly my) birthday celebration since my ride bailed due to sickness. I went with Ryanne et al to the bird flu BLew birthday bash.

Friday

So I skipped out on 80s Night with Whit and Puje because of my morning class, but when my classmates and I got there, we found it had been cancelled. I wished I had stayed in bed. Calc.

Pop. Bank with Ben. Shower and shave. 543@1.

That sounds like a strange countdown. It means dinner at five (o’clock) for three (people) at ONE (restaurant and lounge).

Shannon, Jenna, and I celebrated her long-awaited return. (It’s been about a week, but the girl called me last weekend to ask – "don’t get excited but" – if I would be her date to formal if she drove back for it.) Clearly I said yes, and she drove back.

I had a fried soft shell crab & escargots (atop herbed risotto with a leek & bacon meuniere sauce) for my entrée and a flourless Swiss chocolate cake (with real whipped cream and Louisiana strawberries) for dessert since someone wouldn't share even though she didn't finish hers. (Nothin’ but love, Shanizzle.)

Jenna and I did a quick-change into our formal dress clothing and then went to The Boot a little overdressed. Then we got on the drunk bus to the Board of Trade Plaza, which was a beautiful venue.

Chi Omega Formal was fun. All the Chi Hos looked gorgeous, especially the seniors. There was just a little bit of drama but Jenna and I just drank it away laughed it off. It’s only natural after four years of grudges and drama that a little alcohol would bring it out at the end. But it was still a fantastic night.

Saturday

David and I got up to go to Crawfest bright and early to have three pounds each (of the three tons) of crawfish for breakfast. The bands were good. The food was great. There should have been beer, Cynthia. I slept most of the afternoon away before going to Ralph & Kacoo’s with Shannon for (Gabby’s) Mikey’s birthday dinner.

Besides the bottles of Pinot Grigio the birthday boy ordered that prompted Gab to swear he’d be sorry on her birthday, seafood was the highlight. Shan and I split a she-crab soup (which was not authentic Maryland but still very good), and we all split gator bites (blackened and fried), and crab-stuffed mushrooms for appetizers. I had the Shrimp Charles: Gulf shrimp stuffed with lump crabmeat and topped with hollandaise sauce and more lump crabmeat. Then Shan and I split a huge slice of key lime pie (with real key limes).

I showed up a little late to the "Party of Shame," the Phi Sigma Pi date party. Lizzie, my lovely date was still sober and glowering, but we remedied that problem with drinking and dancing. Lots of that. It was F&M's. That’s what F&M's is for.

There aren't many significant stories. (Okay, there are a few about Stephanie, but ask me in person. She shot me a Lizzie-Shame-Glare-Minus-The-Squawk when Max, our knight in shining armor who drove us home, asked if she was a Hot Mess.)

Sunday

...was pretty much sleep and recuperation. Mass. Sunday night supper. Molly (who I met at a previous F&M's date party, on the pool table, and was present last night) mused and reminisced(?) on the fun. You can reminisce without remembering!

I was wrong, 21 was not the last good birthday. Like last year, some people couldn’t make it to the real day, so they insisted on celebrating later in the week. Except unlike my last "birthweek," food replaced drinks this time.

Thank you everyone who took me out to eat, bought me drinks, greeted me, etc. I have amazing friends and am grateful for y'all.

Oh yeah, pray for Adrian. It’s hell week.

other people's photos

The following photographs are courtesy of Shannon Will, Abita Banana, Lauren Ruth, Ryanne Clarke, and Caitlin Tully. The first three are from spring break in Panama City Beach; the following four are from "Freshman Night" last Thursday.

Shan and myself donning the life vests

with "Rosie" and "Abita" for our first dip in the hot tub

chillin' at Hooters with my favorite off-duty waitress

exact replicas of those Butler 216 boys in freshman year

I bought Ry an appletini, but a Kara'd be more freshman year.

with Steph, "Quick. Do something freshman year!"

Becca's midriff... totally freshman year

bringin' freshman back

Terrorism and lunch with Tara. Typical Thursday.

Very atypical Thursday night! Ryanne had the bright idea of us going to Vera Cruz for margaritas and TJQuills for drinks after to relive the fun of freshman year... even though we're now old seniors. I surprised her with a special present: Kathleen "MIA" Fanone. (It would have been a present to Sylvia too, but she didn't come.) She, David and I even dressed up in old freshman year clothing to recreate "the look."

We went with Whitney, David, and Tully to Vera Cruz. Several flavors of margarita pitcher. Sauza shots on me. I knew NONE of the servers at Vera Cruz, which is probably in it's hundredth revision... just to show how long it's been since I've been there.

Kathleen had an emergency and left, but Stephanie, her sister Samantha, their Pinay friend Jeanine, Becca, Matt, and Paul joined us at T.J. Quills. Pretty awesome. I finally got my Choy sandwich to balance out the Marin one Steph got last year when Adrian visited.

Quills was fun. There was popcorn. Ry and I got appletinis to commemorate freshman year. (R.I.P. Kara "Whorkus" Wagner.) My favorite Quills bartender was there and was all "never thought I'd see you again!" My reply: "Old habits die hard." He gave me free shots.

We went to Phillips next. Danielle, my favorite lab partner ever, was bartending! I thought she left after graduation. She gave me more free shots. Good times. So was Jason "press menswear" Warrington. That brings the count of people-Sylvia-loves-with-me-tonight to TWO.

Whit, Tull, and I went to The Palms next to close out the night. It was packed. I LOVE it around that two in the morning time. I missed Chad Michael like whoa though. Dalia&Co were there too. Awesome.

We closed out the night at The Rat splittin' a turkey sub with "everything," a bacon cheddar burger, and a chicken tender combo. Then Whitney and I got ice cream for dessert.

I'd call this a good day.

Debate in terrorism class. Lunch with Tara. We caught up on our spring breaks. Shannon and Shivani joined us for lunch. Screenwriting class. I apparently forgot to attach my screenplay to the E-mail I sent out, but miraculously I was still ahead of the game because the other two presenters either forgot to send out E-mails or just entirely forgot to... write something? We watched a few clips from Goodfellas which is a fantastic movie.

Our class went out to dinner at Juan's Flying Burrito. I took Abie's suggestion to actually try his favorite... the fish tacos. (Yes, literal fish tacos.) They were surprisingly good. We ended up spending about $100 on food and then another $100 on drinks. (This is impressive considering their happy hour special was $1 beers and 2-for-1 margaritas but whatever.) Then we decided to buy a $50 chocolate cake, but that was worth it.

Back here, I took cake over to Lauren and Steph and then invited Whitney over to have some. She brought Ryanne and Tully with her for a study break.

I decided to be "responsible" or whatever and stayed in after instead of going out with the screenwriting people again...

thickset Thursday

So my day began with a phone call from Mom to talk about the money we were planning to happily spend on "Gradfest."

I put scallops that were in the freezer in the fridge to defrost before going to pick up the package mentioned in yesterday's entry. I took a shower and got presentable (for my last "senior portrait") and headed off to Gradfest. They really should change the name because it's nowhere near as fun as it sounds. It's basically the university's last chance to get you to spend lots of money on overpriced things.

I was on the phone when I heard a familiar voice that I couldn't place calling out "ANDREW MARIN!" and I ignored it for a little so I could wrap up the conversation. It was Claire "Clourkie" O'Rourke. How very exciting, and I wanted to go to lunch with her and Ryanne but had to go do boring things like class and Gradfest.

My day was a little hectic because I only got half the things done at Gradfest that I wanted to, so I got to class a little late. This was complicated by multiple phone calls trying to finalize things with each parent and with Adrian regarding this upcoming Marin Immediate Family Reunion Weekend and other matters that required immediate tending.

After lunch with Tara and a quick visit from Adrian, I got my pictures taken. Mom told me to relax, so they'd come out well, but the photographer told me I looked "great." (I guess relatively speaking because he noted that some people came in wifebeaters and poorly groomed facial hair.) I picked up some announcements, diploma frame, and cap/tassel and gown. They almost gave me the orange engineering tassel, but Tara pointed it out - thank God - so I got the gold science one.

I remedied all that "fun" from Gradfest by going a late afternoon park trip with Rachel and then a dinner with Ben. Lots of laughs that only the two of us would understand.

I took a nap, which was too short, and then went over to Shannon's to watch The Illusionist, starring my favorite actor of all time. The plot's pretty much Eduard (Edward Norton) trying to save this Duchess chick (Jessica Biel) from marrying the Prince of douche (Rufus Sewell). Eduard and Sophie are childhood sweethearts, etc. In some ways, it's better than The Prestige and some ways not, depends on what kind of movie you're looking for. The Illusionist is more romantic and less self-centered, while The Prestige focuses on upstaging your competition. And of course, Ed Norton has more acting ability than the two male leads in The Prestige combined. It's strange watching Jessica Biel not be all tough, given Stealth, Blade: Trinity, and how every paparazzi photo of her is her working out. It's like watching Sarah Michelle Gellar in a horror movie; she can slay vampires, but masked murderers and ghost children are too much?

I was waiting for her to kick ass, but she didn't.

I got back here and between that and 80s Night remembered to cook my now-forgotten scallops. I was on the phone with Adrian and then Ben while in the kitchen, so I think I seasoned the dish twice twice when I wasn't paying attention. It definitely had too much kick to it, but it was still good. Butter, garlic, ginger, peppers, a little brown sugar, and old bay seasoning... It tasted like something you'd have in DC's Chinatown. I fixed this a little by dumping rice into the boiling liquid to soak up and cook.

After that, Lauren and I went down to our usual Thursday 80s Night at One Eyed Jacks to meet up with Ry Ry, B(ig) B(rains) C(laire), the UNO guys, et al. Fun times as always.

three of my favorite ladies - photo courtesy of Lauren Mitchell

March already?

Another week flew by, another weekend flew by even faster, and suddenly it's Sunday night again... in March nonetheless. Seriously, where did January and February go?

My week was laidback, relatively speaking. Wednesday: Classes and LOST. Thursday: Class, lunch and hanging out with Rachel, 80s Night. Friday: Classes, Lunch and hanging out with Adrian, The Boot and The Rat with Keenan and some of his friends, a little bit of Dance Marathon. Saturday: A little more Dance Marathon, a delicious dinner (Ninja for various sushi, tempura, and rare beef tataki) with Shannon, Blockbuster, a Days of Heaven screening, and quality time with Ryanne and her roommates. Today: The ornithological society's crawfish boil in the park with Ry Ry, studying, napping, and I-don't-know.

I've added "labels" (for popular subjects) to all my journal entries and will continue to do so in future ones. The labels should allow for faster filtering if you want to look up something in past entries and at-a-glance notices of a new post's content if you're pressed for time.

Where'd the weekend go?

Friday was classes then groceries. Then began the back-to-back laser tag nights. Yeah. Apparently when you turn 22 you want to reaffirm your youth, so you decide to play laser tag. Ryanne and Ben, indepedently of each other, both wanted to play laser tag for their birthdays. Friday was Ben's night. We went with Katy&Co. After that I had made a raspberry tiramisu for Tara since she wasn't at Italian Night, so she and Ian came over. They approved. (Personally I prefer the strawberry version, less tart and less sweet. The raspberry version looks better though because it's a burgundy color and the berries require no chopping and distribute more uniformly.)

Shannon came over to have tiramisu also and convinced me to go to Beaux Arts Ball, the architecture party, at the last minute. I didn't have a costume ready. The theme was ConNEXTion. So she wrapped me in packaging tape because tape connects things? Whatever. Beaux Arts was fun. All the architects were drunk as usual.

The rest of the night is a bit of a blur: The Boot, J(ai)L Hall, The W Hotel, and then some French people's party somewhere.

Saturday was pretty chill. Laser tag again that night, Ryanne's "party." We had to split up into two groups of four because there weren't enough slots for all eight of us. Stephanie and I were on the red team and were assigned the code names "Cinderella" and "Aladdin." I had a lot of fun shooting the bitchy old couple who made two kids give up their vests and guns 'cause they accidentally let too many people in.

After that was a quick trip to the Big Easy because Lauren was hungry, and I just hung out at home the rest of the night. Mommie Dearest, which I'd never seen, and Bram Stoker's Dracula, which is one of my favorites, were both on TV. MD is a fucked up movie.

Sunday I made "macaroni" (really penne) and cheese from scratch to tide me over until Mexican Night. I'm never going to make the orange crap that comes out of the box again.

Mexican Night was a huge success although apparnetly "Mexican" is synonymous with "dip" because we had at least four of them. But one of them was Stephanie's guacamole, so I was automatically satisfied with our menu. We also had chicken and vegetable fajitas, Mexican lasagne, beans and rice, various forms of corn chips, a cake decorated with a Mexican flag, "Dos Amigos" ice cream (Mexican vanilla and Mexican chocolate), and of course, the strawberry tiramisu that we pretended was Mexican.

Just like Thanksgiving and Italian Night, we all said what we were thankful for (but Mexican things this time.) I guess that went succesffuly and unoffensively.

Some of us stayed after to watch The Oscars, but by the end only Becca, Leah, and I were left. I was happy because all of my predictions (Babel, Little Miss Sunshine, Helen Mirren, Martin Scorsese, Pan's Labyrinth, and THE DEPARTED) won except one.

All's well that ends well.

And this weekend definitely did.

I started post-Bruno's today by showing Steven and Katie around the new UC. They recognize a lot of it. When we left, a pair of drunk girls stumbled up the stairs. (Katie's sorority memories came flooding back. Chi O, for those of you who care.)

The two girls were like "Are you prospies??? You should totally come to Tulane!" (I guess they were still observant enough to notice that I was, in a way, giving a tour.)

And I told them that they were actually graduates, and I was a senior.

"Really. Come to Tulane!"

Whatever.

As we were walking out, another pair of drunk girls (perhaps the same) stumbled out after us.
They were yelling, so we could hear them get into a fight about which had the other's cell phone and who loved the other more, culmating in one calling the other a "smelly butt-whore."

Next time I get shitfaced, I know what I'm going to call someone.

After a couple of hours of sleep, I met up with Steven and Katie again for lunch. I also got to meet Steven's brother Matt for the first time, so now I can proudly say I've met the entire Brooksher family.

Fiesta Bistro, for those of who haven't been, is a restaurant on Carrolton that serves Spanish tapas (for appetizers or to combine into a meal) and Mexican entrees. They also have $2 mimosas all-day on Sunday. We got patatas bravas, manchego flambe, taco salads, and steak quesadillas.

As I was coming back to my room, I saw Ryanne, Steve, and Tully. They invited me to go see Krewe of Barkus (the dog parade) in the French Quarter. So I went.

As we were walking to the route after parking, we came across a peculiar creature... a mix of a poodle and a dalmation. Use your imagination. I christened it a "poomation," which sounds like something disgusting used for winter holiday television programming. Ryanne came up with a better title, "dalmadoodle."

Two other choice conversation excerpts were:

Steve: "Balls aren't funny, but blue balls are."
Ryanne: "Blue balls are funny? I'll have to remind you that next time."

Ryanne: "And when it's $5 per box..."
Tully: "Oh, is that what you regularly charge?"

After Barkus, we stopped by The Creole Creamery on the way home.

Shannon and I went to Target to get a few things, grabbed some Chinese food for dinner (some kind of chicken each and white rice) and then saw Pan's Labyrinth, which was awesome. A beautifully macabre fairytale. After watching, I took issue with something, but after thinking about it, the issue disappeared. Just be aware if you don't understand Spanish, you'll have to do some subtitle reading.

It should win at least half of its six Oscar nominations.

what a Wednesday

It wasn't off to the greatest start but turned a complete 180.

I walked into adolescent psychology about five minutes late, and Professor Cunningham asked" Having trouble with that door, Andrew? Might help if you came to class more often."

Fantastic.

Then at the end of class when he's about to let us out early and people are looking for the sign-in: "I have the attendance sheet. You're all here today anyway. Andrew's like 'damn, the one day I come to class he doesn't pass it around.'"

Sometimes it doesn't pay to know teachers on a first-name basis.

However this evening Whitney's mom, a very sweet lady and (for those of you who know her) Miss Molly's goddaughter, took a few of her friends to dinner at Upperline. I've wanted to go for a long time now, and it exceeded my expectations. Extremely delicious.

We started with drinks and appetizers: Duck and andouille ettouffée with corn cakes and pepper jelly, crispy spicy Louisiana oysters, and "the original" fried green tomatos with shrimp remoulade.

For my entree I had Tom Cowman's Famous Roast Duck and, at the suggestion of Miss JoAnn, the owner, sampled both the garlic port and ginger peach sauces. She was right. Both spectacular (the garlic port a little more so, I thought) but the duck was so perfect that it didn't really need either.

We were so full by dessert but anyway split a slice of pecan pie a la mode and their honey-pecan bread pudding with toffee sauce.

Take that, critics who say I've stopped writing about food.

Then we did pints at The Bulldog and brought home too many glasses.

Photo courtesy of Caitlin Tully

weekend antics

So last night I went to dinner with Shannon "Who Wants Me? Everybody." Will and some of her friends. We went to Byblos because we'd both never been before. While waiting for her friends, I tried a bowl of the crab and corn bisque while she opted for some of what I call Shan-Nectar (Malibu and pineapple juice). Delicious. The two of us split a lightly fried crab and eggplant cake topped with parmesan sauce and lump crab meat for an appetizer and then for entrees the Byblos Pasta and a plate of baba ghanoush, lebna, mujadarah, and maybe the best moussaka I've ever had.

(Someone complained about lack of food detail in previous entries?)

Also kind of funny was I saw Katie (who lived on Butler 3 freshman year and whom I hadn't seen in ages) at Byblos and then saw her boyfriend RJ (Butler 2 and also hadn't seen in ages) at the party later. RJ told me a funny story. Ask about it if you want.

David, the six chicks, and what seemed like a thousand familiar faces, most of them drunk, went to the Tulane Ornithological Society's "Bird Flu Party" to get our "vaccinations." Good times. This following photo is courtesy of Lauren Mitchell:

Lauren, Whitney, David, and I were literally the last to leave. We stopped by The Boot for pizza, where we Adrian and company and where Whit apparently gave herself third-degree burns from eating too-hot pizza too-fast?

Today was pretty laidback. I studied for a bit, and Lizzie and I motivated each other to go to the gym. (I met a Gonzaga '01 grad named Chris who's here for med school. Recognition by athletic shorts.) Tonight we finally watched Showgirls for the half of us who haven't seen it and the other half who wanted to subject others to the experience. This following photo is courtesy of The Artist Formerly Known As Jesse Spano and was a moment we found controversial:

CHICAGO FOOD CRAWL

Coming at you live from Mikey’s iBook in his Lincoln Park apartment, it’s an update! I know... I’m surprised too.

So I get to National Airport and the flight to Pittsburgh is delayed. The ground attendant is pretty dumb and unhelpful the entire time and then proceeds to pull me and the other four people with connections off the plane right before it takes off because she says we won’t make our connections. Turns out she’s wrong but we’re off the plane when it taxis and takes off. Luckily another, competent, helpful guy shows up and rebooks me, telling me he’s booked a direct flight to Chicago that arrives there even earlier than I was supposed.

When I got here, Mike was still at his internship, so I just walked around the shops in the neighborhood, particularly Broadway. (I think it’s funny that he lives next to another street called Broadway, which has little resemblance to Tulane’s frat row.) I went to New Kyoto for lunch and got their “signature hamachi roll.” It’s hamachi (aka yellowtail tuna), eel, shrimp tempura, and spicy mustard. What makes it their signature, I suppose, is that they wrap it all in scallops and then torch it (think crème brulee) but only a little so the scallops seem lightly grilled rare. Delicious.

After that I went to Bobtail Soda Fountain because Gisela recommended it, and one of “the nicest (soda) jerks in town” told me Thursday is Root Beer Float Day, so I got one of those. It was awesome to see so many people of all ages coming to get ice cream despite the cold.

After that I went to Argo Tea Café (a tea shop, as opposed to a coffee shop) to do some reading and got a “teapuccino,” Earl Grey and frothed milk.

Mike finished work, so we went to his apartment to freshen up and stuff and then went barhopping with Gisela! Lots of fun times. I don’t remember the names of the places we went, but both Mikey and ‘Sela said it would be a chill night because they had work in the morning. After several cocktails and shots, we ended up staying out until two in the morning. Mike and I then decided it would be a great time for my first Chicaco Dog so we went to Clark St Hot Dog.

This morning we got up at 6AM to go to Clarke’s, spelled like Ryanne not like the hot dog, for omelettes. You know there’s few meals I love more than breakfast at a diner. Then while Mike went to work I continued to sleep.

I got up and showered and made a presentable second impression (as opposed to the drunken first one) on Mike’s roommate Preet and his girlfriend Erica, who both seem really nice and chill.

Then I went off with David and Viralyne on a tour of the city! Luckily David has his priorities straight, so we went to Giordano’s for their “special” (sausages, onions, mushrooms, and peppers) deep-dish pizza. And then we saw (in David-speak) “the bean thing,” “[his] fountain,” the art institute, “the face things,” the Chicago Tribune building with the cool rocks from different historic landmarks around the world (e.g. Taj Mahal), “Hale Someone, I don’t know who he is but he looks important because he has this thing named after him,” the river, and Magnificent Mile (the shopping street). We got some Garrett’s caramel crisp popcorn to munch on along the way.

I just got back from printing out my tickets for tomorrow, and now I’m off to the gym to work out with Mike so we can eat more tonight.

I'll post pictures when I get home.

December?

I suppose it's time for an update.

The rest of Thanksgiving break I spent with my mom since my dad left on a well-planned trip the day after Thanksgiving and Adrian was seeing all his friends back from college for the first time. We shopped, cooked, played with our dog, saw The Prestige, saw The Departed (again), and ate a lot.

Since coming back here it's been the usual weekly stuff... grocery shopping, visiting Tara at Cafe Luna, going with Lauren to Cooter Brown's, having Bubble lunches with Rachel, going to classes, and studying. Ugh. But the semester's almost over anyway. And I saw Casino Royale, and, very minor nitpicking aside, it was awesome.

The Phi Sigma Pi "pick your poison" party was this past weekend, and the lovely Lizzie asked me to be her date. She was a Bahama Mama, I was an Irish Car Bomb, and everyone else was costumed as another alcoholic beverage. After the party at Grits officially ended some of us wound up at F&M's and then utilized Tulane's wonderful Safe Ride back to The Big Easy for late night food.

Mixed Drinks: Screwdriver, White Russian, Long Island
Iced Tea, Irish Car Bomb, Dirty Girl Scout, and Muff Diver

Last night Becca made chili and of course served it with sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese. AND she made brownies with frosting. Dinner was awesome, and the lucky group she served sat around watching (critiquing) Wife Swap and Supernanny... mostly because I think everyone was too busy talking to get up and change the channel.

Why...

...does everyone else look cute and I look like an idiot???

That was the question Ryanne posed when she walked into Lauren and Stephanie's apartment before 80s Night.

The answer: Because we didn't get the memo "tonight is the night we all dress in eighties garb."

And we might've, had she actually sent one out.

She was rocking the side ponytail though.

We went to One Eyed Jack's to meet up with Bryan&Co.

Easily the best post-Katrina 80s night...

Easily the best Thursday of senior year so far...

The place was packed with dancing people, the mix of music was top notch, Ashley Merhottie was there, Tara made a post-Vaughan's surprise experience, we drank a lot and smoked just a little, and I even got a cigarette burn or two from She of the Spectacular Boobs.

Drunken Debauchery December is on its way, and I can't wait. "Be there or suck at life," says Chad. He informed me yesterday that he'll be back in New Orleans before the semester ends.

That is motivation to study hard and spend easy in preparation.

Chad: andrew you really need to write a book
Me: "how to go to college but not really?"
Chad: no, your book should be like, i do all the shit other people wish they did all the time but only do once in a while

For anyone else who missed the amazing new Spider-Man 3 trailer last night, here's a link to it.

weekend/month over???

I don't know where time goes. Stephanie is finally 21. We all trekked down to Harrah's and then Pat O's for some festive celebrating.

Other notable moments of the weekend were cooking dinner with Adrian and the Tulane return to the Superdome. We students returned too, armed with daiquiris and beer. Close game but we lost.

photo courtesy of Stephanie Choy and her blog

a pic I took: cheerleaders encouragin' the green wave to roll.

Yesterday was Yom Kippur, so all the Gentiles wanted to go to lunch. I got like three phone calls at noon. I'd already made plans with Rachel to go to Nirvana but unfortunately forgot it's closed on Monday, so we went to Theo's. I'd never been. It was pretty good.

Adrian tried to do an international conference call to our parents in Bali the other night, and it didn't work. (I assume they were still sleeping 'cause it was like eight in the morning, and they were on vacation.) But they conference-called us both last night and were back in the continental states. And that's great because now I can more often quote the funny things they say.

And for you fellow youtube and Disney freaks, here's a live performance from a few weeks ago to commemorate the release of a certain double-disc dvd today.

catchin' up

Saturday night we celebrated "the end of Lauren being 21" and at midnight celebrated her 22nd birthday. We went out to Harrah's to gamble a bit and then went to Pat O'Brien's. (Yeah, I wish I had an endorsement deal or something.)

We drank hurricanes and mixed drinks before downing a couple of blowjob/muffdiver shots. Lauren is AMAZING at them. Ask anyone who was there.

Sunday was laidback. Sleeping in and churchgoing, etc. Oh yeah and Lauren's delicious cookie/birthday cake.

Monday Adrian and I stayed up all night keepin' Shannon company in the printmaking studio. A familiar guy (and former architect) named Kyle was there. Around sunrise, #2 and I went to Big Easy for a breakfast of sorts.

Yesterday was Whitney's birthday, so we took her to Superior Grill and got her really drunk off margaritas before bringing her back to blow out imaginary candles.